1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an opening trim weather strip attached to a vehicle body opening peripheral part of a vehicle body of an automobile for sealing a gap between the vehicle body opening peripheral part and an automobile door, particularly relates to an opening trim weather strip which is provided with a cover lip and in which at least a main body of the cover lip is formed by a sponge member.
2. Related Art
An opening trim weather strip 110 attached to a vehicle body opening peripheral part of a vehicle body of an automobile is molded by extrusion and is constituted by a trim portion 120, a cover lip 130 and a hollow seal portion 140 as shown by FIG. 5.
The trim portion 120 holds the opening trim weather strip 110 over an entire periphery of a vehicle body opening by clamping a flange portion formed at a vehicle body opening peripheral part 6. The trim portion 120 is formed by a solid member or a slightly foamed member, inside thereof is embedded with an insert member 126, an inner face thereof is formed with a vehicle exterior side hold lip 124 and a vehicle interior side hold lip 125 for holding the flange portion to thereby hold the flange portion of the vehicle body.
The hollow seal portion 140 is formed integrally with a vehicle exterior side of the trim portion 120 for sealing a gap between a door 2 and the vehicle body opening peripheral part 6 by being brought into contact with an outer periphery of the door 2 when the door 2 is closed. The hollow seal portion 140 is formed with a sponge member to be flexibly brought into contact with the door 2 in accordance with a shape thereof to firmly seal.
The cover lip 130 is extended in a vehicle interior direction from a portion on a vehicle interior side of the trim portion 120, brought into contact with a garnish or the like provided at inside of a vehicle to thereby cover a gap between the opening trim weather strip 110 and the garnish or the vehicle body. The cover lip 130 is formed by a solid member, or a slightly foamed member similar to the trim portion 120, further, a surface of the cover lip 130 is provided with a skin layer 133 made of a thermoplastic elastomer of a solid member for garnishment (refer to, for example, JP-A-8-174620, JP-A-2001-130264 and JP-A-2001-246991).
In recent years, light-weight formation of an automobile has been requested for protecting a global environment and it is also requested to light-weight the opening trim weather strip 110 for the light-weight formation of an automobile. A specific weight of the solid member for forming the trim portion 120 and the cover lip 130 is about 1.2, a specific weight of the slightly foamed member is about 0.95 through 1.05, and therefore, it is requested to constitute the specific weight by about 0.5 through 0.8 by the sponge member by further foaming.
However, the opening trim weather strip 110 is attached to an entire periphery of the vehicle body opening peripheral part 6 of an automobile to be along therewith, and therefore, the opening trim weather strip 110 is bent to be attached thereto at a corner portion. At that occasion, in a case of forming the main body of the cover lip 130 by the sponge member for the light-weight formation as described above, when the skin layer 133 is formed by the solid member in correspondence with the trim portion of the solid member, the slightly foamed member of the background art, there is a concern that the skin layer 133 cannot follow elongation of the main body of the cover lip 130, wrinkles are produced at the surface of the bent cover lip 130 and an appearance thereof is deteriorated.
Therefore, it is desired to provide an opening trim weather strip in which wrinkles are not produced at a surface of a cover lip even when a light-weight opening trim weather strip is attached by being bent at a corner portion and which is excellent in appearance and can easily and inexpensively be fabricated.
In order to resolve the above-described problem, the first aspect of the invention is an opening trim weather strip attached to a periphery of a vehicle body opening of a vehicle body for sealing a gap between a vehicle body opening peripheral part and an automobile door, comprising:
a trim portion attached to the vehicle body opening peripheral part;
a seal portion integrally formed with a vehicle exterior side of the trim portion for being brought into contact with the automobile door to seal the gap; and
a cover lip integrally formed with the trim portion and extended to a vehicle interior side thereof;
wherein the cover lip is formed with a cover lip main body by a sponge member, and a cover lip skin layer formed by a solid member at a surface of the cover lip main body, and
a modulus of the cover lip skin layer is made to be equal to or smaller than a modulus of the cover lip main body.
According to the first aspect of the invention, the opening trim weather strip includes the trim portion attached to the vehicle body opening peripheral part for holding the opening trim weather strip, the seal portion integrally formed with the vehicle exterior side of the trim portion and brought into contact with the automobile door to seal, and the cover lip integrally formed with the trim portion and extended to a vehicle interior side thereof. Therefore, when the trim portion is attached to the vehicle body opening peripheral part, the seal portion can firmly be brought into contact with the door to seal the gap between the vehicle body opening peripheral part and the door. Further, the cover lip can cover a gap between the opening trim weather strip and an interior member, a garnish or the like of a vehicle body and can promote the appearance.
The cover lip is formed with the cover lip main body by the sponge member, and therefore, a weight of the portion of the cover lip can be reduced, which can contribute to light-weight formation of the automobile.
The surface of the cover lip main body is formed with the cover lip skin layer formed by the solid member, and therefore, even when the cover lip main body is formed by the sponge member, a predetermined surface can be constituted and the appearance can be promoted.
A color and a material of the cover lip skin layer can be selected separately from the cover lip main body, it is easy to change the color or the like of the cover lip skin layer in accordance with an environment of using the opening trim weather strip, which is preferable in view of design. The cover lip skin layer is provided integrally with the cover lip main body and can continuously be formed in series of steps after extruding the cover lip main body, and therefore, fabrication thereof is facilitated.
The modulus of the cover lip skin layer is made to be equal to or smaller than the modulus of the cover lip main body, and therefore, even when the opening trim weather strip is attached by being bent at a corner portion of the vehicle body opening peripheral part, the cover lip skin layer is formed in correspondence with a deformation of the cover lip main body, and wrinkles are not brought about at a surface of the cover lip.
The second aspect of the invention is the opening trim weather strip, wherein the cover lip main body is formed by a sponge rubber and the cover lip skin layer is formed by a thermoplastic elastomer.
According to the second aspect of the invention, the cover lip main body is formed by the sponge rubber and the cover lip skin layer is formed by the thermoplastic elastomer, and therefore, after vulcanizing and foaming the opening trim weather strip including the cover lip main body, the thermoplastic elastomer can fixedly be attached thereto and fabrication thereof is facilitated. Owing to the sponge rubber, the cover lip main body is rich in a flexibility and can follow recesses and projections or bending of the vehicle body opening peripheral part and the cover lip is excellent in appearance.
Further, by changing a composition of the thermoplastic elastomer, the modulus or a rigidity can be changed and it is easy for the thermoplastic elastomer to be in conformity with the modulus or the rigidity of the cover lip main body.
The third aspect of the invention is the opening trim weather strip, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer forming the cover lip skin layer is provided with a rate of a rubber component and a resin component by 88:12 through 80:20.
According to third aspect of the invention, the rate of the rubber component and the resin component of the thermoplastic elastomer of the cover lip skin layer is 88:12 through 80:20, and therefore, the rubber component is larger than that of a normal thermoplastic elastomer, the modulus or the rigidity can be made to be low, and even when the opening trim weather strip is bent to be attached to the corner portion of the vehicle body opening peripheral part, the opening trim weather strip follows an elongation of the cover lip main body and wrinkles are not brought about at the surface of the cover lip.
The fourth aspect of the invention is the opening trim weather strip, wherein the trim portion and the seal portion are formed by a sponge member.
According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the trim portion and the seal portion are formed by the sponge member, and therefore, the light-weight formation of the opening trim weather strip can further be achieved, the flexibility is increased, and attachment thereof is facilitated even at a corner portion.
The fifth aspect of the invention is the opening trim weather strip, wherein the trim portion is formed by a solid member, and the seal portion is formed by a sponge member.
According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the trim portion is formed by the solid member, when the trim portion is attached to the vehicle body opening peripheral part, the trim portion can solidly clamp the vehicle body opening peripheral part, and the opening trim weather strip is not detached from the vehicle body opening peripheral part. The seal portion is formed by the sponge member, and therefore, the flexibility is high, and when the door is closed, the seal portion is brought into contact with the door in accordance with a shape of an outer periphery thereof and the seal performance can be ensured.
The sixth aspect of the invention is the opening trim weather strip, wherein the seal portion is constituted by a hollow shape.
According to the sixth aspect of the invention, the seal portion is constituted by the hollow shape, and therefore, even when the seal portion is brought into contact with the door in closing the door, the seal portion is easy to be deformed and can firmly be brought into contact with recesses or projections or a curved face of the door, and even in closing the door, in comparison with a lip shape, the seal portion is not abnormally deformed, and even when there is a dispersion in a dimension of the vehicle body or the door, the seal portion can firmly seal the vehicle body or the door.
The seventh aspect of the invention is the opening trim weather strip, wherein the sponge member is a sponge rubber of EPDM having a 100% modulus of 0.7 MPa through 2.5 MPa, and the solid member is an olefin species thermoplastic elastomer having a 100% modulus of 0.7 MPa through 2.5 MPa.
According to the seventh aspect of the invention, the sponge member is the sponge rubber of EPDM having the 100% modulus of 0.7 MPa through 2.5 MPa, and the solid member is the olefin species thermoplastic elastomer having the 100% modulus of 0.7 MPa through 2.5 MPa. Therefore, the sponge member is sufficiently soft and the flexibility of the solid member can be set to be equal to or smaller than the flexibility of the sponge member in accordance therewith. Therefore, the solid member can be bent in accordance with bending the sponge member and wrinkles are not brought about at the surface of the cover lip.
Further, after vulcanizing EPDM of the cover lip main body, the olefin species thermoplastic elastomer of the cover lip skin layer can solidly and easily be welded and fabrication thereof is facilitated.
The cover lip is formed with the cover lip main body by the sponge member and formed with the cover lip skin layer formed by the solid member at the surface, and therefore, the weight of the portion of the cover lip can be reduced, and the appearance can be promoted. The color or the material of the cover lip skin layer can be selected separately from those of the cover lip main body, it is easy to change the color or the like of the cover lip skin layer, which is preferable in view of design.
Further, the modulus of the cover lip skin layer is made to be equal to or smaller than the modulus of the cover lip main body, and therefore, even when the opening trim weather strip is bent to be attached to the corner portion of the vehicle body opening peripheral part, the cover lip skin layer is deformed in correspondence with the deformation of the cover lip main body and wrinkles are not brought about at the surface of the cover lip.